


It's Always Been You

by wank



Category: Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell, Simon Snow & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Boys In Love, Crass language, Crushes, Cussing, Cute, Enemies to Lovers, Fist Fights, Fluff, Foul Language, Happy Ending, Idiots in Love, Kissing, M/M, Minor Simon Snow/Agatha Wellbelove, Past Relationship(s), Pining, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Watford (Simon Snow), british propriety, delicate sensibilities, snowbaz throughout the years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:21:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24646348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wank/pseuds/wank
Summary: A Watford Soulmate AU.Simon Snow is so excited about the Magickal World, and he is even more excited about soulmates, and having his very own, there is just one small problem. Simon Snow never learnt to read cursive- well that, and the fact that his soulmark is so common, anyone could say it for anything.
Relationships: Simon Snow/Agatha Wellbelove, Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Pitch/Simon Snow
Comments: 3
Kudos: 156





	It's Always Been You

_First Year_

Simon thinks the most incredible part of the World of Mages is the soulmate tattoos. Normals don't get soulmate tattoos, and not all Mage's get them, but through all of Magician history they've gotten the tattoos. On a magician's twelfth birthday, the words your soulmate says when you know they are your soulmate appear on your skin. The Mage told him all about soulmates on the ride up to Watford. He told Simon how it's improper, but at Simon's insistent begging, he rolled up his sleeve to show Simon "I believe you love". The rest of the ride was filled with mindless chatter, the Mage loves to hear himself talk, but he didn't say much else about his soulmate. Looking back, Simon thinks that might be the only time the Mage ever showed emotion apart from anger.

Baz wasn't sure if he was going to get a soulmate mark, do vampires even have souls? He'd asked Fiona about it, and the only vampire she's ever dealt with didn't have one, but 'that was just one vampire, Basilton'. He'd asked Malcolm once, and Malcolm just shook his head. Baz never asked again.

_Second Year_

Simon was so overwhelmed with everything magical his first year, he'd almost forgotten about the soulmate tattoos until Penny got hers. It was traditional to cover them up and only let your soulmate see them. Most people learn cover up spells as one of the beginner spells, and most tattoos tend to end up covered by clothing anyway. But Penny, incredible Penny thought it was too romantic to cover up, her inner forearm proudly read 'I'll save y'all, just trust me.' in blocky concise letters. It didn't take long for Penny to assume it was an American, given the y'all. Penny loves the mystery of it all, how exciting to have someone destined to love you for who you are, no matter what, from anywhere in the world?

It was in the summer at a care home, when Simon went for his daily shower, he caught a glimpse of dark ink in the mirror. It was a beautiful slanting script that read only two short words. The only issue, Simon Snow never learned to read or write cursive, that's the struggle of being raised in the care homes.

The first day of term, Simon rushed to find Penny, he needed to learn cursive asap. Penny, ever clever, demanded for Simon to show her his tattoo. Sheepishly, Simon took off his shirt, revealing the short phrase.  
"Alright then."  
"Alright then what, what does it say?" Simon asks.  
"No, it says alright then, Si." Penny says gently.  
"Arrrggghhh, that's so common, how am I ever gonna know? "  
"You'll just know, Mom says you'll be so sure, that you won't be able to think of anyone else. You'll know it in your heart when you find your match. "  
Simon just groans, and works on his cursive.

Baz gets his tattoo late February, just a few weeks into term. He's glad for the cool weather and an excuse to wear long sleeves. He never bothered learning the cover up spell because he didn't have much hope of having a soulmate. That's the shame with his condition- his soul remains up in the air, that and a million other little unknowns. Baz doesn't want to go home for Easter holidays. He knows his Dad would be displeased to see the 'hit me again, you fucking prick', the fowl language would disappoint by itself, but the obscene language paired with a barely legible boyish scrawl, well being a vampire was bad enough, let alone being a gay vampire. And Malcolm always says that tussling is beneath a man of his station, unless it's for the War. During Easter break he asks Fiona the cover up spell, and Fiona becomes the only person to ever see his embarrassing chauvy tattoo. She just hugs him and tells him that not all soulmates have to be romantic, but it's okay if it is. But Baz thinks it's sort of romantic, maybe in a West Side Story kind of way. It kind of feels right to have a rough and tumble soul mate, the kind who would make Daphne blush with a sailor mouth. Maybe he's some kind of leather jacket wearing, motorcycle driving bad boy, who's only sweet to Baz. By the time Baz returns to school, he's mastered the cover up spell, as is proper, and frankly even if it weren't, it's no one's business.

_Fourth year_

The majority of fourth year is uneventful, at least for Simon and Baz, they manage to avoid coming to blows, and trying to avoid each other when possible is working quite well for them, that is until Baz begins riling Snow up for a fight, right at the end of term. They're in an empty hallway, and Snow messed up in Elocution class so of course Baz took the piss, he always does. What he didn't expect was Snow following him and then starts kicking his shin.  
"Stop! Stop! What's got you acting out?" Baz grins, still taking the piss.  
"You right bastard!" Simon screams at him, switching legs to keep up his assault.  
"I hate you!" He keeps up his barrage of verbal and physical attacks.  
"The feelings mutual!" Baz replies, pulling back for a right hook. It lands, a little low clipping Simon's shoulder. Baz knew Simon was his archnemesis, and it made sense for him to hate him, but it hurt a lot more to hear it aloud.  
"Is that all ya got, git?" Simon yells in between laughs, tears forming in his eyes.  
Baz just grunts, quite unbecomingly, and goes for another punch, but his hearts just not into it. It's more fun teasing and working Simon up then actually fighting.  
"Hit me again, you fucking prick!' Simon screams before throwing punch after punch, like he means to break his own hand in his stupor.  
"Enough!" Baz roars before turning and walking away, leaving Simon to sort himself out.

Baz had a crush on Snow before, it wasn't that big of a deal. Then Snow had to go and say those words, and be Baz's fucking soulmate. Baz thought well maybe someone else would say the words, but that seems like a long shot. Fiona said soulmates don't have to be romantic, they can be platonic, so he supposes they can be antagonistic too. Unrequited soulmates happened too, when Baz actually got his soul mark, he read every book in both the school's library and the family one to try and learn everything about it. So that would be great, Baz's soulmate would be Snow, and Snow and Wellbelove can be each other's soulmate and it would be fucking rainbows and sunshine and other vomit inducing things. Baz hates it even more, when he thinks about how much sense it makes to put them together. Baz needs someone to challenge him, not academically obviously, but in other ways, Baz has never thrown a better punch then when punching Simon. Baz had never cared about his upper body strength before either. Baz needs someone to keep his mind sharp, he needs a reason to hold his head high, he needs someone to keep him on his toes and never back down. And it makes a lot of sense, Simon's all loud, smiles, golden, sunshine and happiness, Baz is dark, brooding and quiet; day and night, yin and yang, darkness and light. Two boys on either side of a years long feud/war, destined to be together, to come together and end the fighting. It makes so much sense, and Baz can imagine how perfect they'd fit together, and it hurts even more. It hurts when Baz thinks about Simon, just a few inches shorter than he, the perfect height to kiss his forehead, his loud beautiful laugh, high and carrying to balance his own deep sorrowful chuckle. It hurts being so close to the sun and not being able to do anything other than exist in his orbit.

So Baz goes on, keeps up his usual bickering, and teasing and snide remarks, because what else is he supposed to do? The boy he's in love with, the crush may have gotten out of hand, his literal soulmate, was Simon godforsaken Snow, of all people. Snow who has a golden destiny with his golden soulmate girlfriend and is destined to kill him. What is Baz to do, but keep up his mask of indifference and let them play happy couple and suppress the ache and longing deep inside him. Just because watching them together hurts his heart and makes it hard to breathe, and no literally he can feel the pain in his heart and sternum and arms and legs and blood whenever he sees them together smiling, doesn't mean there's anything he can do to be friends with Snow, let alone lovers and soulmates and all kinds of gooey soft things. It's just not fated, so Baz trudges on and pretends like every moment he sees him doesn't kill him a little, knowing that he can never have him.

Simon tries not to worry about his soulmark. Anyone who agreed with him on anything could say it and be his soulmate. Yikes. Simon wasn't ever a big talker, and this new fear kept him quiet still. When he thought Agatha might like him, he asked her out, and that went surprisingly well. He hoped she might be his soulmate and everything would work out beautifully.

_Sixth year_

Simon and Agatha have been dating for a while, and for the most part, things are good. Simon finds himself trying to say vague statements to get Agatha to agree with him, so they can be soulmates. Agatha's catchphrase may as well be 'I suppose Simon' for all the going along she does, she doesn't know that Simon is waiting for a certain phrase. Simon never sees her soulmark and he never asks because Penny says that's incredibly rude to do, worse than asking a lady her age. She's never asked about his mark either. Agatha doesn't like to think about soulmarks, given she doesn't have one. It's not unheard of not getting one, she read that one in ten magician's don't get soulmates, but it still feels like she's the only one. Not that everyone flaunts theirs around, like Penny, but it's an unspoken burden she has to deal with.

Agatha and Simon break up a few times, what's the point of dating if she doesn't have a soulmate? And does Simon have a soulmate? If he's a normal like they say he is, that means he doesn't have one. Is it fair to him to date him if he has a real soulmate out there somewhere? So Agatha breaks things off, so he isn't being dragged down by her, and so she can stand on her own, and because it doesn't hurt like she thinks it should. After a few days, or weeks, he asks her to get back together and she does, because it hurts her to see him sad, and she does love him, just maybe not in the right way. Every few months the desire for freedom overwhelms so she breaks it off, just to get sucked back into the orbit of Simon Snow.

_Seventh year_

They go around and around each for years, Simon and Agatha, but she never agrees with him the right way. She never says 'alright then' when he says 'we should head to tea' or when he says 'we should get back together', or even when he starts saying 'alright then' in response to just about everything. Simon prays 'alright then' like a mantra, like he can will her to say it so they can be in love forever. Simon doesn't cry when she says 'it's over, Simon, for real this time.'

Simon is more upset that Baz is nowhere to be seen, than that his longtime girlfriend is done with him. That should mean something, but Simon ignores it. Simon finally figures Agatha isn't his soulmate. Simon is so obsessed on where Baz is and why he isn't here, that he really doesn't have time to dwell on Agatha, or why he's so worried about Baz. His only goal is to find Baz, that is until the Visitings start. After Headmistress Pitch visits Simon, Simon's thoughts are wholly consumed by Baz, focused on finding Baz and on helping him avenge his mother. Even though he's only heard things about Headmistress Pitch, he can't stand the hurt of her being stuck in some limbo, unable to find peace. If her poor soulmate knew that she was apparently murdered, and stuck in the veil, the poor sap would be gutted.

After torturous weeks, Baz returns. It's a few weeks more before Simon can scrounge up the courage to talk to Baz. It's just that when Baz came back, he came back infuriatingly fit, he'd grew into his tall frame a little bit, and started to finally look like a man, a beautiful man with full, kissable lips, with defined muscles, and killer grace. So Simon went to tell Baz about his mom as soon as possible, but Baz had never looked so tempting. He'd looked every other way before, but he'd never looked like something precious. He'd never looked like something Simon cared so much about, it wasn't just that Simon wanted to kiss him and hold him and do unholy things with him, he wanted to protect him and make sure he quit limping and wasn't so gaunt, and to put him away somewhere safe where nothing bad could ever happen again.

A few weeks after Baz's return, Simon finally cornered him in their room. Simon just wordlessly handed him the notebook in which he took meticulous notes the morning after she visited.  
"My mother was here?" Baz asks desperately.  
Simon just nods.  
"My mother was here, and you waited all this time to tell me!" Baz balls his fists, nearly ready to punch something, maybe the wall.  
"I'm sorry, I wanted to help." Simon says pitifully.  
"You want to help?" Baz asks, sounding small.  
"I'm going to help you find your mother's killer, and get justice." Simon exclaims, carefully as not to trip over his words.  
"Why would you do that?" Baz sneers out, trying to suppress his tears.  
"I'm going to help bring her justice, we're going to be friends and work together, and she'll be at peace." Simon grits out.  
"Alright, then." Baz agrees, sitting down.  
"What did you just say?" Simon asks the blood draining out of his face.  
"I just said alright then, if you want to help, I'm not going to fight you on this."  
Simon has to remind himself to breathe, deep shuddering breaths to stop from passing out.  
"You said alright then, that's really what you said?" Simon sits on his bed facing Baz.  
"Yes, Snow, I told you-" Simon interrupts by taking his shirt off. Simon thinks this is what Penny meant, it all makes sense, and he just wants Baz to hold him close, and to keep him safe, and he's never felt more anxious, more vulnerable, but never more excited, and hopeful and delighted. Simon's so relieved to have finally found a soulmate, and one as stunning as Baz, it feels like a weight has been lifted off his chest. Simon feels like magic more now than he ever has. He can feel magic running under his skin, and tugging at his heart, but it's not itchy and uncomfortable like when he goes off, it's warm and reassuring and feels like coming home. Baz stares wide eyed at Simon's naked torso, at his handwriting delicately across his upper pec. Baz squints to read the alright then.  
"Oh, oh I see." Baz starts as Simon begins approaching him slowly, like one would do to a wounded animal.  
"Do, do you have one?" Simon asks calmly, despite his heart beating out of his chest.  
"I-" Baz trails off, speechless for once. With a flourish of his wand he reveals his own tattoo.  
"Hit me again you fucking prick -that's -oh that's me, I said that" Simon stutters out.  
"Yeah." Baz says lamely.  
"You knew." Simon counters, coming to a stop directly in front of Baz.  
"Soulmates don't always have to be romantic, they can be friendly, or we can turn around and forget this." Baz rushes out, trying to keep his face neutral.  
"Wait, Baz, is that what you want?" Simon asks timidly.  
"I- I - what do you want? " Baz counters, trying to keep his world together, trying not to let everything fall apart.  
"Can I kiss you?" Simon asks timidly, reaching his hand towards Baz's face. It feels so right it almost hurts.  
Baz gives the slightest nod and Simon pounces, kissing him. Simon grabs Baz by the face and pulls him closer, his other hand reaching to land on his side. Baz pulls Simon into him, until they can't get physically closer. Baz moves Simon to lay on top of him to get as close as possible.  
"Simon." Baz says breathlessly, when they pull apart, much to Simon's dismay.  
"Hmm" Simon hums shifting to get cosier on top of Baz.  
"Did you really mean it?" Baz asks nervously running his fingers over Simon's shoulder.  
"I meant all of it, Baz, I want to help you with your mother's killer, I want to kiss you, I want to be your soulmate, but even more than that, I want to be your boyfriend." Simon peppers in between light pecks to his face.  
"I'd like that, Snow." Baz grins.  
"Simon."  
"I'd like that, Simon." Baz punctuates with a short kiss.  
"So, you've known then." Simon says after a few hours of trading lazy kisses.  
"What of it?" Baz asks cooly.  
"Nothing, nothing." Simon shakes his head, grin splitting his face.  
"It's always been you, Sn-Simon, and I've always known that, the soulmarks are incidental."  
"I- I know whatcha mean. '' Simon stumbles out, awestruck that someone like Baz could really love him. Simon's amazed that someone like Baz could even be real, let alone be his soulmate, but sometimes things just work out like that.


End file.
